Process of making sugar and by-products from sugar-cane.



GEORGE w.

cannon,

1110M ULLEN AND "\l'clVlT'ULLEN, Q'F PICTON, ONTARIO, TE. 1'0 ZALMOIT G.SIMMONS, OF

KEN'OSHA, 'WISCONSIN, ANDREW W. PRESTON, 0F SW'AMPSCOTT, ETASSACHUSETTS,AND BRADLEY W. PALMER, (3F BGSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, TRUSTEES.

PROCESS 035 MAKING SUGAR AND BEE-PRODUCTS FROM SUGAR-CANE.

No Drawing.

To all trim/n it may concern lie it known that we, Gcouen W. llluiiltuy-LEN and (lli onon Bannn'r'r Mchlttntnx, both citizens of the UnitedStates, and residents of Picton, in the Province of Ontario, Dominion ofCanada, have invented a certain new, usefuh and improved Process ofliitlliing Sugar and By-Products from Sugar- Cane, of Which thefollowing is a specification. v r

This invention relates to an improved process of making sugar andlay-products from sugar cane.

Among the salient objects of the present invention areto provide aprocess whereby the sugar cane may be converted into a ecu- {ditionadapted for indefinite preservation gin the immediate vicinity where itis grown and as-soon as it is harvested, so that all losses byinversion. of sugar and spoiling are eliminated and the subsequentextraction oi? the sugar and refining. of the same may be to provide aprocess by,

I to provide a process accomplished under the IHCSl? advantageousconditions both as to economy and yield; means of which the sugar isextracted fronrthe cane product in iliigher degree of purity with aconsequent reduction incest oi subsequent refinement; by means of whichthe plant material is first dried and afterwa l extracted by dissolvingout the sugar and in so doing a heavier" or more concentrated solutionof sugar secured than is practicable where the extracted material isvery green cane, thus effecting; a substantial economy in the subsequentrefiningand evaporation ot the sugar bearing solution; to provide aprocess which enables the sugar bearing productbefore liieing extractedto be preserved indefinitely and to be shipped without deteriorationfrom place to place, this securing the advanta es of nianulaetims whereconditions are best suited; to provide a process which results inleaving the ere tracted structural parts oit the plant in the form otby-prcducts' in ideal condition for utilization in paper making or otheruses for which cellulose is utilized; to provide a process which, so faras its tilesiccating steps are concerned. is SUSCUI)lL1l)ltE to beingcarried out on a large scale with greatrapidity and very largely by theuse of automatic machinery, so that iun'nense quaih Specification ofLetters Patent.

what resemble wet raw-duet it uiuilerstood that the cane is harvested,as

Patented Oct. s. rote.

Application filed January 9, 1911. Serial No. 601,569. p l o 1 1 titlesat sugar cane may be converted into condition for preservation at thevery time when the rropis in prime condition for harvesting; to providea process bv means of which substantially 10071 of the sugar ltoiituinediu the plant may be extracted without undue expense or repetition ofsteps; and in general to provide an iniproved process oi? the charaeterreferred to.

To the above ends the invention consists in the matters hereinafterdesrrilwd and more particularly pointed out in the appended claiins.

The invention \\'lll be readily understood from the folhnvingdescription. wherein the process is described as carried out by the useot ordinary well mnlerslmid aml-readily available accessories.

ln practising this invention the sugar cane is lirst threaded or disintr"ated into 'liuely divided condition, '1'. (2., into arch ecudition thatthe shell and librowaseular par tious are in the form ol tiueiilaiiseutu and the pith in the term of small particles somewill beusual, uhen it is a. nearly as possible in prime rendition ha: 1ruiahinnx in the operation of shredding); any juices which may beexpressed are l'c-ubs'olbetl by the shredded mass.

Such shredding oi the cane may be successfully carried out by the use ofa machine in principle til: that shown and described in Patent No.813.800 granted to .l. X. l'lyatt l ebruary iii, 1906, but any othersuitable met-hau s. which will. accomplish the deserihe l shredding mayvhe used it is important that the shredding be performed with reasonablellltllllliiiltt-S after the cane has been harvested, because whereverthe stalks are severed or mutilated s: as to expose the interiorinversuni begins in a short time with a consequent less oferystallizable sugar.

Proniptly a their the shredding the material is dried, and this dryingmust be effected in artificially heated (bins, in order that it may beact-oniplishrd rapidly. under con trolled conditions, and inversion anddeterioration of the product thus avoided. To this end the dryingpreferably conducted in drying kilns through which the material isPassed progressively, d-while. SQ through the kiln is subjected tothe-dr i action of a heated drying'medi'umfas hot sively while the hotair is circulating around air circulated through the kiln, the materialbeing sufficiently agitated or tumbled toinsurecomplete andsubstantiallyuniform access to all parts thereof. For purposes ofeconomy it is of course necessary that the drying should beapproximatelyuniform so that no part of the material is left undried and no artsubjected -to'the drying operation .muc longer-than necessary. Theseresults are'readily' attained by passing the material through akilnequipped with traveling drier belts over which the material passesprogresand through it. v The drying is conducted at a temperature in thematerial being dried ranging from 100 degrees to 200 degrees Fahrenheit;the hot gas being circulated through in such volumes as to carry'away'the moisture-laden vapor practically as fast as formed, and thematerial, as 'hereinbefore described, so' manipulated as to bethoroughly subjected 'to such drying action as to all its parts; Theseconditions all contribute to rapid and uniform drying, which is imortant in order to avoid inversion and deterioration of the material,but the temperature of the material must nevertheless not be carried toohigh," especially duringthe later stages of the drying, avoidca-ranielization.

in order to A characteristic result of thus shredding the cane intofinely disintegrated condition and then effecting a prompt andrelatively rapid extraction of the moisture down to a degree of drynessin which the material 1s adapted for indefinite preservation underexposure to ordinary atmospheric conditions is that when the material issubjected to soakingwith water, .as it is afterward in the extractingstep, the sugar-is dissolved and passes into solution almost instantlyand before other less soluble constituents are dissolved. Undoubtedlythe c-rystallizing of the sugar in the material during drying sep--arates the sugar more or less perfectly from the so-called impurities,so that, taken in of. these conjunction with the finely comminntedcondition in which the material exists when ccllulorated f1 so-calledultimate fiber. The cellulose or ult mate fiber derived from the pith isof very difierent character from that derivedfrom the shell andfibre-vascular filaments, 224e,

the woody fibers. For commercial utilize tion of these two celluloseproducts it" is practlcally essential that they be separated from eachother and not used in their'mixed condition as. found in. the plant.tracted plant material isa by-product of considerable value and morevaluable when the pith and woody'\ fibers are se arated. Moreover theseparation of the two orms of plant structure facilitates the, dryingwhen certain types of apparatus are used, and the separated/materialsmay be extracted somewhat/more economical-1y than when mixed.

The ex-Yj It is 'not essentia f to the main object of the presentprocess, namely the securing of the chief produc t, the sugar, that thepith and 'wood; fiber be separated, since it is a fact that the shreddedmaterial can be dried effectively without separation and can beextracted efiectively without separation.

Preferably, for reasons above explained,

the shredded material is separated into its two chief,structural parts,and according to the type ,nf drier employed this separation may.beaccomplished either before or after -drying.:";/ To effect theseparation of the mass, after it has been shredded, resort is had to ascreening or sifting operation; the

screening or sifting being usually accomplished in case the separationprecedes the drying/as a continuous operation to whichi the material issubjected while passing from the shredder on its way to the dryingkilns. Preferably. the material is caused to pass over and through aseries, of ordinary wire screens of suitable mesh, the material passingover screens of successively finermesh and the two products so separatedconveyed to different kilns.

being The screens may be agitated or any of the well known ways, and areusually filamentary fiber passes over the screens and, the pith materialpasses throughthem'; yTh screening may of course be performed man ually,in which case the material is placed uponthe screens and the pithparticles sifted out in batches, much in the-manner that the house-wifedredges flour. Commercially, however, it is practically necesary toemploy a machine so organized as 1 to accomplish the separationprogressively" and on a comparati rely large scale. The degreeofs'eparation or concentration of the respective fractions is such asmay he jattained by screening under the described 12 conditions, andshouldbe adequate to secure the advantages herein pointed out.

The pith product on the one hand and the fibrous product on the othereach possesscs its original proportions of the natural 130 arranged :ininclined position so that, the 1 ing through the A; Subsequent withwater or dilute lution thus extracted so highly dangerous. Again,

. moiaaeo ..,g; ar juices, and swing to the difierent character of thetwo products they may be dried in slightly modified and speciallyadapted kilns more rapidly and more uniformly than when the materialis'dried in its mixed comlition.

The separation by screening, may, however, be accomplished after thematerial has been dried, orfor that matter, While pass-1- driers, sincethe drying, if,

accomplished in the manner described, does not permit the material tomat or adhere together, terial may of the driedmaterial may beaccomplished by sifting and screening in substantially the same manneras that described for accomplishing' the same end before drying.

y the sugar contents of the dried material are dissolved or diffusedout. Owing to the degree of comminution of the material-and to theeffects of the previous drying, the solution of the'su'ga'r pro- 25"coeds with great rapidity.

The extraction 'plished by trifugal device of any proper constructionafter .the material has been thoroughly wet is preferably accomtion ofthis machine the liquid containing the dissolved sugar.

A subsequent stream of water thrown into the material in this machinethoroughly washes it and eliminates practically the last traces ofsugar.

' The sugar is recovered from the sugar soin any usual and wellunderstood manner, involving of course the an evaporationfiof the liquidand crystalliziug out of the sugar. i

The extracted plant material, is in ideal condition for utilization forpaper making or for other purposes to which cellulose stock is adapted.The fact that the sugar has been completely removed from the ma-'terialobviates a serious difficulty heretofore encountered in the makingof cellulose chemical fiber from sugar cane, in that the drasticchemicals'used in effecting the reduction or-cooking of the material hashere tofore acted upon the sugar left in the imperfectly extracted caneto form dark colored carbonaceous products and so pro- .55 duce acoloring matter extremely difficult if not impossible of removal.Moreover, where the cellulose is desired for conversion intonitro-cellulose the presence of sugar renders the reduction to nitro-celulose the finely comtially chea' to ultimate fiber,

by the fact that the chemical directly at and the saw-dust like pithma-' be read ly screened out from the at filamentary'woody shreds: Theseparation placing the material in a cen'-' sugar juices. The acthrowsout promptlyminuted and extracted form, in which this by-product isleft' after extraction substanens and shortens the time necesectcomplete chemical reduction and this is accounted for sary to e tacksthe intercellular matter and is not wasted upon those water solublecontents which have been removed. It is probable also that the uniformlyfine condition into which the material is shredded both hastensanduniforms the cooking operation, thus not only effecting economy butsecuring a maximum yield of of the uniformity with which the reductionis effected.

We claim as our invention:

1. The process of making sugar and byroducts from sugar 'cane whichconsists in shreddin which the pith is torn free from. the woody fiberand fibro-vascu1ar filaments so that the pith may be substantiallysegregated, either simultaneously or in any order ofsequence, extractingthe sugar by dissolving it out from.the respective fractions with asuit-,

able solvent and then recovering the sugar from the solvent.

2. The process of making sugar and byproducts from sugar-cane, whichconsists in shredding the sugar-cane to a condition in which the pith istorn free from the woody fiber and fibro-vascular filaments so that thepith may be substantially segregated, drying the shredded mass andthereafter concentrating the pith and fiber'constituents thereof,extracting the sugar by dissolving it out from the respective fractionswith a suitable solvent, and then recovering the sugar from the solvent.

3. The process of making sugar and byproducts from sugar-cane whichconsists in shredding sugar-cane to a condition in which the pith istorn free fromthe woody fiber and fibro-vascular filaments, so that thepith may be substantially segregatedby screening, thereafter effectingthe drying and separation ,by screening, either simultaneously or in anyorder of sequence, and finally extracting the sugar from the saidseparated parts by subjecting the dry products to the action of water ina suitable vessel and recovering the sugar from the solu-. tion.

GEORGE W. MUMULhEN. GEORGE BARRETT MulllULhEN.

Witnesses:

' CHARLES J. SCHMIDT, NELLIE B. DnAnnonN.

sugar-cane to a condition in;

ultimate fiber because

